


Animals

by Faiz



Category: The Almighty Johnsons
Genre: Gen, Vegetarianism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-20
Updated: 2013-11-20
Packaged: 2018-01-02 03:09:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1051822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faiz/pseuds/Faiz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anders never had a problem eating meat before, but then again he never actually had to watch it being prepared.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Animals

Anders sighed as he was led into the kitchen by a very irate Valerie. Apparently he hadn't been pulling his weight around the house recently, and because of that Anders was now elected to help Valerie prepare dinner that night to make up for it. But Anders actually had a very good reason to not being doing his chores, because he had a very important project due, and his partner had bailed on him last second. All he knew about his partner at this point was that they were suspended, and Anders was going to have to do the entire project himself because everyone else was already paired up. That meant he had been working in overdrive for the past few days trying to get everything done before the due date, and of course that meant that he may have been putting his chores off or making his two younger brothers do it for him for a little bit of money.

But of course Anders not doing any housework despite doing something equally if not more important meant that Valerie was mad at him. Then again, she was always mad at him for some reason or another, so Anders made sure to stay turned slightly away from Valerie so at least he didn't have to attempt and talk to her. He was just going to quietly cut the vegetables she had given him in peace, and as soon as he was done he was going to make a beeline to his shared bedroom with Ty. He was so close to being done with the project he couldn't wait to finish it off so he could have time doing things he actually liked to do. Mike had gotten him a new set of pastels for his birthday and Anders had been itching to use them for days now, but he hadn't had the time.

"Anders, please. You're cutting them horribly. Try to keep them straight." Valerie complained, picking up an offending piece of onion that was slightly uneven on one side.

Anders sighed and muttered. "It barely even matters. We're just going to eat it anyways." 

"What was that?" Valerie shot at him.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing..." Anders sighed again, and began chopping the vegetables much more slowly, making sure they were all nice and even pieces.

It was then that Valerie pulled out the chicken that she was meaning to make for their dinner. Anders gagged slightly at the smell and sight of it, and immediately turned away to not look at it. It was strange, he had no qualms eating meat or poultry but the sight of that chicken made Anders feel sick to his stomach. He never really thought about it before, but that hunk of poultry that Valerie was currently cutting up used to be a chicken. Anders liked chickens, for the most part. They could be horrible little shits, but Anders could distinctly remember being a child on a farm and having a pet chicken that he would take care of. Of course after that, the chicken ended up being killed and eaten for dinner. The memory of that made Anders gag again, and he actually had to put his knife down and lean away from the chicken all together.

"Oh Anders, don't be so dramatic. It's just chicken!" Valerie said, exasperated. "Honestly are you fifteen or five?"

Anders shook his head, and grabbed the cutting board and moved it closer to him. He began cutting the vegetables faster, ignoring the fact that the pieces were once again becoming uneven. But he didn't care, he just wanted to get away from the horrible smelling and looking chicken. And oh god, was that blood? Anders had to restrain himself from making another gagging sound, and he practically flung the knife down when he finished and ran back to his room before Valerie could yell at him. He sighed as he began to calm down again. He looked up to see his small fish tank bubbling and his fish all swimming around happily. He smiled, but couldn't help but remember all the times that he had eaten fish before. Fish that were quite a bit bigger than his own goldfish, but fish all the same. He felt ill again at the mere thought of eating fish again. In fact, any thought of eating meat had made Anders feel terrible. All those cows, pigs, everything. Anders shook his head. He went to his desk and took out his new pastels, and immediately began drawing pictures of various animals. 

A while later when Anders was finally called to dinner with his two younger brothers in tow, he felt the same sick feeling in the pit of his stomach when he looked at the chicken on his plate. He poked at it with his fork, remembering what it looked like raw. How could something he knew was delicious look so disgusting raw? He shoved the chicken aside and began eating all the vegetables and rice that were on his plate. He made a small look of disgust as he watched Axl stuff his small mouth close to bursting with the chicken. Ty noticed Anders' look of disdain and raised an eyebrow at him. Anders shook his head. Now was not the time to talk about his sudden refusal to eat his chicken.

Of course, Valerie didn't seem to get that memo, and a soon as she noticed that Anders' plate was empty save for the chicken she began going after him. "Really Anders? Why aren't you eating your chicken? This isn't from what happened earlier is it? That is so immature of you to not eat the chicken just because you didn't like looking at it raw. It's a waste of food!"

Anders shook his head and pushed his plate of chicken away from himself. "No, I can't eat that. It's disgusting."

"Anders." Mike said sharply. "That's not nice to say about Valerie's cooking."

Anders shook his head even harder. "It's not her cooking, it's just the chicken in general! I don't want to eat chicken. Or any meat. I don't want to eat any of that crap anymore." He crossed his arms.

His brothers and Valerie stared at him in shocked silence as he stood up from the table and walked back to his room, slamming the door shut. He sat back down at his desk, looking at all the pictures he drew with his pastels. The cows, the sheep, the swimming fish, everything. How the hell could anyone even eat a sheep? Have they even seen what one looked like? Anders had, he remembered. He had been to a petting zoo and had absolutely fallen in love with a little sheep that would keep nudging it's head into Anders' hand expecting food. And his fish, he absolutely adored his fish. How could he eat fish and keep fish as pets too? It wasn't making sense to Anders at all. He kept staring at his drawings, and he didn't even notice footsteps coming from behind him until Mike sat down next to him on his bed.

"What's with this sudden disdain for meat?" Mike asked, raising an eyebrow at the drawings on Anders' desk.

"I had a shining moment of realization." Anders said sarcastically. "No, but really. Just seeing Valerie cook that chicken made me sick to my stomach. I hated it. And after that I just kept thinking about all the other animals that I had eaten before, and it made me feel ill." Anders sighed. "But that's just going to make Valerie hate me even more. She can't be bothered putting extra time in making me something to eat that doesn't have meat in it."

Mike put a hand on Anders' shoulder. "Well, this is entirely your decision Anders. If you really think you can commit to not eating meat at all, you will have to make your own meals, or at least learn some things to add onto whatever Val makes. And don't say that she hates you, you don't make things any easier anyways." Mike gave him a small grin, and Anders actually returned it.

"Yeah, I guess I can try learning how to make other foods. But oh god, just don't make me make dinner with her anymore. I don't want to see raw chicken ever again." Anders shuttered at the idea.

Mike laughed, and patted him on the back. "I'll keep that in mind." With that, he stood up and left Anders to his own devices.

He wondered what he could even actually make to eat. It might end up requiring a trip to the library to find some cookbooks, so he might as well invite Ty to go along with him, because he knew that his brother absolutely adored going to the library, even more when it involved getting cookbooks. He grinned, and decided that he would go tomorrow to the library, and he began sticking up his pastel drawings on the walls of his room. He actually felt pretty good about himself, for once.

**Author's Note:**

> This literally all came from the constant running headcanon that Anders has a way with animals (sea creature or otherwise) so I thought that it'd be interesting if Anders were actually a vegetarian, because even if he was a dick to people, he'd never be mean to an animal.


End file.
